It's a penny-wise move to get rid of the penny
The penny has long outlived its usefulness. Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
I can’t remember the last time I used a penny.
My best guess is that it was one of those rare occasions when I was using cash at a store and I (or my wife) rummaged through my pockets (or her bag) for one or two pennies to avoid getting back even more pennies as change from a $20 (or whatever) bill. The penny, in other words, has become a device best employed to ward off other pennies.
So I was quite pleased the other day when President Donald Trump said he wanted to get rid of the penny. Technically, he said he was instructing the Department of the Treasury to stop minting new pennies. It’s not clear he has the authority to do that, a running theme these days, but it’s impossible to fault his instinct here. The penny has long outlived its usefulness.
Of course, as with anything in these times, there has been some pushback. Much of it has come from an advocacy group called Americans for Common Cents, which is funded by — you guessed it — the company that makes the zinc penny blanks used by the U.S. Mint. You can find a deceptively named lobby for anything.
But there also seems to be some uneasiness among some consumers as well. And I get it. For such a tiny object, the penny has a deep hold on our collective consciousness.
A penny for your thoughts. Pennies from heaven. Penny wise, pound foolish. A penny saved is a penny earned. Penny pincher. Penny candy. Not a penny less. Penny loafer. Penny Lane. Bad penny. Penny ante. Pretty penny. Worth every penny. Penny Dreadful. Miss Moneypenny.
The list, of course, underscores the problem. The penny is archaic, its power as a metaphor waning. No one saves pennies anymore, sells candy for a penny, puts a penny in their loafers, or negotiates over a penny, never mind finding a poker game where the ante is a penny.
It’s become a casualty of the modern cost of living and our growing preference for electronic payment systems. After all, only 16% of financial transactions in the United State nowadays are made with cash.
But it’s hard to believe that whatever pushback is out there is really about the penny. More likely, it has to do with the difficulty of letting go, which in general terms is among the hardest things we humans have to do. The penny brings us back to what we like to think was a simpler past.
It’s a battle between irrelevance and sentimentality — a skirmish which neatly captures the essence of nostalgia. Sentimentality can be a powerful force against logic, but the logic for the penny’s demise is fierce.
For starters, the penny is a money-loser. Literally. It costs 3.69 cents to make and distribute a penny. And we made 3 billion of them last year, at a loss of $85.3 million. Nor is there a secret cost to getting rid of the penny. In places where it already is extinct — like Canada, which stopped minting them back in 2012, years after Australia, New Zealand and Sweden got rid of their one-cent coins — transactions have been rounded to the nearest nickel and studies have shown the ups and downs even out over time.
Speaking of which, please let’s not stop with the penny. Next, nix the nickel. It costs 13.78 cents to make one of those. Loser.
And who knows? Getting rid of the penny might make it easier for us to get rid of other things, too, like other elements of government that aren’t working. It’s a muscle we should exercise more often. In that way, the penny could reclaim its power as a metaphor.
As for the rest of us, if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, storing our pennies in cans or boxes or jars or basement drawers, and we keep doing it long enough, they just might be worth something some day.
Columnist Michael Dobie’s opinions are his own.
Michael Dobie is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
